| Abstrakt: |
This paper describes a case study resulting from a JISC Building Capacity Project at the University of Glamorgan. The case study indicates that curriculum design can be used a vehicle to engage staff with technology for learning and teaching, and provide the means to initiate sustainable staff development. At the start of the project, a research survey revealed that whilst academic staff were reasonably proficient in the use of the institutional VLE, they were unaware of many of the tools and resources that could be useful within their subject disciplines. Some staff identified training needs, and indicated a preference for one-to-one support over group training. The survey also revealed evidence that some staff clear use technology in innovative and effective ways within their courses. In response to the research data the project team took a three-pronged approach to building the capacity of academic staff to use technology in their learning and teaching in a sustainable way: Remove the barrier of lack of awareness of useful technologies - this was undertaken through in-faculty drop-in sessions to demonstrate hardware and software and answer queries; and seminars and blogs to provide more detail of the ways in which the vast range of available technologies could fit into subject teaching and research activity Encourage staff already competent in using technology - by organizing regular 'self-help' groups to allow sharing of new ideas and good practice Reach staff with limited engagement with technology - by arranging one-to-one interviews using appreciative inquiry approaches to explore their subject learning and teaching traditions and identify the ways in which technology enabled tools and resources could be integrated Emphasis was placed on the curriculum rather than on the technology. Tools and resources -particularly Open Educational Resources (OER) - were discussed in the context of improved curriculum design and established tangible benefits (JISC Infonet, 2008). Learner benefits were also a focus, with emphasis on the key role of the tutor in guiding learners towards the effective use of technology in their learning (JISC, 2009). This case reveals that an institutional approach to curriculum design can be implemented through sustainable approaches at subject level. Thus a top down mandate for change can be implemented through a bottom-up engagement with practitioners in the language and approaches of their own discipline. Such an approach moves from central support into the common practice with departmental and course team debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
